Drawing As Process

MA Show at Bargehouse 2007

2008-02-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some images and links from my MA Degree Show at the Bargehouse in November 2007 in London.

bargehouse link

and here I am listed as one of Donna Love

day's top ten highlights

Here are some images from the night:

Latest work

2006-07-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

The Flake & the Cordless Mouse

2006-06-13T04:36:00.000-07:00

Back again to the Acheulian hand axe which was my first image! Here the similarities are so big between this Retouched Levallois flake that dates from the middle Palaeolithic period - 70,000 years ago found in England and is in the British Museum and the Cordles Mouse produced by Packard Bell - Model No: C-3UP and was made in China 2004. Hand-object relationship.

End

2006-06-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

Video

2006-06-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

"Bind as you find"

2006-06-06T02:24:00.000-07:00

"Bind as you find" was the advice our trainer Peter Bleeze (Managing Director of Sovereign Training) gave us last week when he instructed us on how to deal with any kind of fractures (simple fractures, greenstick fractures and open fractures).

Last week I took an intensive 4-day intensive course on "First Aid at Work". After practising, studying, learning how to deal with various scenarios and casualties, and presenting a written and practical exam, I was able to qualify and obtain a certificate...thus allowing me to be a first aider! We were able to practice applying dressings and bandages to one another...and later on I practiced with my son and daughter.

It was interesting how I didn't get away from binding...yet again I found myself binding, wrapping and containing...but in this case wounds, fractures, cuts, burns and various other injuries in casualties!!! The difference was that in this case the wrapping or binding is done to protect, stop bleeding, prevent infection, keep part immobile, in general keep together before taken to hospital. It is a humane gesture to preserve life, to prevent the condition from becoming worse and to promote recovery.

Touch and hands play an important role while dealing with casualties. The back of our hands are the first ones to touch a casualty to check what is wrong with him/her. In case that there is no response we get near his/her nose and mouth trying to listen and feel for signs of breathing while placing one hand on the casualty's stomach. If the casualty is breathing we proceed with a tip-to-toe survey using sight and touch...we feel all the body to find further clues or signs of injury.

If the casualty is in a state of shock after dealing with the main case we proceed to reassure him/her by holding the casualty's hand and placing a blanket over his/her body. Touch becomes important in reassuring the casualty, maintaining communication and keeping him/her calm while help or an ambulance arrives or just while he/she recovers.

And finally our hands are really important when the person is not breathing...one has to proceed with CPR - "chest compressions". To do this it is necessary to place one hand on top of the other and interlock the fingers. We press downwards approximately 4-5cms and this is done 30 times at a rate of 100 per minute. Mouth to mouth resucitation can follow - but it not essential. The most important are the chest compressions until the ambulance arrives...The first aider hands can save the casualty's life!!! You can see the actions that are necessary on the drawings that show the arrows. (The first image is taken from "Workplace First Aid Manual", 2005, Safety First AId Group, 3rd Edition; and the last 2 images have been taken from "First Aid Manual",St. John Ambulance, St. Andrew's Ambulance Association & British Red Cross, 8th Edition, 2002, DK.)

The act of binding, wrapping or tying

2006-05-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

"Encounter with Beuys" - 1984 - by Joseph Beuys - Vitrine containing Incontro con Beuys, 1974, felt, copper, fat, and cord ( Mark Rosenthal, Joseph Beuys, Actions, Vitrines, Environments, 2005, The Menil Collection, Houston & Tate Modern). "Beuys vitrine sculptures exemplify a literally pursuit, for they are created in private moments. The vitrine soliloquy manifests itself in the placement of the detritus of his studio, including leftover materials from his actions, into poetic ensembles within glass cases.......With a vitrine one dwells in a world of diminutive things, lovingly displayed and carefully composed. The viewer is encouraged to pose questions about the origin of each object, how each relates to the other and what might transpire by their continued proximity." (M. Rosenthal, Staging Sculpture, Joseph Beuys, pages: 57 & 63, 2005).

In this composition Beuys invites us to question the objects...in specific I am interested in the tied strips of fat...what is the significance of wrapping it with cord? Do we wrap and tie objects to contain them, to hold them together?

Why is this a reocurring strategy in many artists work? and ultimately why am I tying, holding together my round paper objects/drawings? Is the reason different for each individual artist? or are there universal reasons?

The act of crumpling into a ball

2006-05-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

This image came through my letter box. It is curious because here the crumpled up piece of paper together with the inferred act of throwing shows frustration at not being able to start writing own creative ideas and later they suggest you should take one of their courses.

Another psychological strategy to get rid of stress or frustration is to crumpled up paper into small balls and throw them at a paper basket....Both acts of crumpling and throwing release your negative energy, frustration and anxiety...Have you ever tried it?

Have you done these actions? Were you angry or frustrated?

Are the acts of crumpling up , screwing up, making something into a ball, twisting, tightening, compressing, always denote frustration? Are there other adjectives or verbs to describe these actions? Let me know your thoughts and opinions.

Detail of "Cell"

2006-05-29T03:22:00.000-07:00

This image is a detailed from Louise Bourgeois's work: Cell (You Better Grow Up) of 1993. Inside there are three carved hands that represent a pair of child's hands, gently clutched and comforted by an adult's. The arms are severed below the elbow, but this is not a gruesome image. The fragmented arms seem as a whole. The adult's gesture is comforting, and the flesh tone of the marble gives of a sense of warmth. This is just a detail in all "Cell" work - it should be seen as a whole because there is more to be understood - it is autobiographical. The hands - those of the child represent her and part of herself in the whole representation - her childhood. Again the hand motif has helped Bourgeois represent her inner thoughts. The cell is filled with echoes of number three. Here the three hands also evoke part of the triangle and the significance of number three, the sets of three that are very important for her. (R. Storr, P. Herkenhoff & A. Schwartzman, 2004, Louise Bourgeois, Phaidon).

G. Penone

2006-05-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

In some of Guiseppe Penone's work the hand is a reoccuring motif. It is at the center and it is the object represented. Through the hand or hands he is able to express his thoughts. The hand is involved in the creative process. Touch and touching become part of the process of making and representing his work. In his trees frottages the hand executes the drawings, the hand touches the surfaces and defines along with him the areas that have to be represented...The hand becomes part of the work, it is included in an obvious manner or in a hidden way. In some of the work there are only marks, traces of the hand. In the fourth photograph where 2 hands are represented, one has left its marks on the other one. The hand has become the surface where marks have been drawn and one hand has become the vehicle alongside with clay, that has made the marks.
Very cleverly thought in all his works there is hand/object relationship and dependency. All these photos have been taken from the book: Guiseppe Penone, 2004, by Catherine Grenier, Centre Pompidou.

G. Penone

2006-05-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Phyllida Barlow

2006-05-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Phyllida Barlow is an artist that has caught my attention and has inspired me! Here are some examples of some of her work. The first is a section from Untitled: Metropole and she uses a variety of materials: paint, timber boards, canvas, satin, wool, hesian, cord. These are five hanging padded spheres, each in diameter measure 110cm and are suspended from a height of 600cm. The following two are also parts of bigger works/installations. She uses a variety of materials and media to express her ideas. There is a lot of wrapping and binding in her work. What attracts me to her work is the unlimited variety of approaches and ways of solving and presenting her work. Touch is an important element in her work as she models her work with polythene, tarpaulin, rags, foam, carpet felt, canvas, paper, timber, silk, foil, plaster...just to name some of the materials - what you get with Phyllida is materials - and lots of them.

"Hard and fast rules fall apart in her work before this list: traditional fine art materials are not wilfully expelled; industrial materials dominate, but not to the exclusion of organic ones; most do not change from liquid to solid, but plaster sets and bitumen hardens; some materials are bought, but some are found, and some become available by chance: the carpet material in "Threat" came from a fire-damaged factory." (Mark Godfrey, p. 36, 2000, Matter/Material, Phyllida Barlow's Sculptural Imagination, Black Dog Publishing Limited).

In her own words; "I am still looking for the single object, the object that can exist on its own. I am still looking for this. Perhaps there is no such thing."

Magdalena Abakanowicz

2006-05-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the works by Magdalena Abakanowicz. The first one is called Hand from 1976, then Heads and finally you can see this Polish artist working on a piece in the "Embryology cycle". She connects the making of art directly to nature and the structure of the human brain: "Our brain bears the vestiges of our ancestors millions of years ago. The traces of primitive animals - first mammals. How the brain works is one of the most important questions of our time - questions which are not fully solved until today...the brainstems - steers the physiological functions of the main vital processes of the bodymaterial basis of all of our instinctive inborn behaviour...millions of years of past experie...the midbrain: is the nces are accumulated in the midbrain...the third part is the cerebral cortex...It provides the material basis for our conscious experience. Although the brain isn't an entity - one has to be aware of the different centers of power. They cause continuing and permanent struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our nature. Art is a product in this struggle." (B Rose, M. Abakanowicz, 1994, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, Publishers).

As Magdalena I wonder how much of what we make is instinctive and connected to experiences of our ancestors, the cavemen. How much of our senses we have lost and how much still remains within us and comes out when we create pieces of work? How much of our earlier experiences are supressed and how much we allow to get out and flourish? I am fascinated with all her work and the solutions she finds while creating them. The hand becomes the object and it also becomes part of the creation of the work. There is hand/object correlation. The tactile is always present. Multiples are also important in representing and displaying concepts. Abakanowicz's earliest drawings done as a child were scratched into the damp earth with sticks. As a child watching the clay crack as it dried, she thought of the cracks as part of the drawing. She says: "I did not yet know how to write. I drew in the earth with a stick. The marks were deeply etched. Then the rain erased them until they disappeared. I no longer remember when I received my first paper. I drew kneeling on the floor."

This is another example of how as children we play and start drawing with whatever we find, with materials that are available to us, not paper and pencil, but what is in front of us - we instinctively draw and transmit our creative thoughts with other materials and in various ways.

Leigh Maddox comments

2006-05-23T04:42:00.000-07:00

Those sinister bundles are curious, I see completely what you mean, they are so different in personality to the earlier white ones and so reminiscent. I guess that the monocolour of the white ones make them more subdued and adding the black and the different colours and gauges of string has the effect of altering the meaning - you just can't avoid that sub-conscious!

Hands - I have always been interested in the human factor in relation to public sculpture. At the Lincoln tomb in Springfield, Illinois everyone rubs Lincoln's nose. Tom Otterness did a large collection of bronzes for the New York subway, mostly around Time Square, and it is interesting to see the patinas. I don't think that the usual New York commuter is purposely rubbing so there is an interestin uniform randomness. http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork?21 although his work looks like whimsy, he is actually very political which makes the whimsy subversive.

Salcedo's work again involves changing surfaces but in a more obvious way of course. With the mention of hair, plaster etc I was reminded of a visit we had from Rona Pondick fairly recently. Her present work is too slick for my liking, but her earlier Freudian assemblages work were so viceral and with hair, teeth, and mud.

I am looking forward to coming to the UK and hopefully Kingston and meeting with you and Jane in June/July.

Last images

2006-05-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last images created and after taken last digital photos I realised that they are somehow sinister or related to the kidnapping of people, the war in Iraq. In specific the round objects/drawings binded with string remind me of the kidnappers of journalists and people in Iraq. Those images we have seen on TV of men wearing black masks and of their victims all tied and reduced to small boundles...and their beheading. They also remind me of the prisoners of war that the Americans captured. They were all tied and hoods were put on their head. The image of the hooded man with wires!!! The pyramids of naked prisoners, etc...

Perhaps because all these last months we have been bombarded by all these images in our television sets and newspapers...and we are supposed to continue our lives as if nothing has happened, as if Guantanamo doesn't exist, as if people in Iraq are not suffering, as if people kidnapped are only news for some time...and all those soldiers that have been sent to war...

The Chase

2006-05-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

Sinister

2006-05-20T04:06:00.000-07:00

Sinister

2006-05-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

3D collages

2006-05-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

Collage with Stewart Geddes

2006-05-20T03:41:00.000-07:00

Wanting to incorporate three-dimensional and collage these objects were created during Stewart's lesson. We were all working on collage and trying to include our own SIPs (self-initiated projects) and we all came up with our own personal approaches to collage.

"Collage as a medium is continually transforming, subsiding, leaping into unexplored areas, and growing." (Gerald Brommer, 1994, Collage Techniques).

With these three-dimensional collages I am trying to continue demonstrating the hand/object relationship and playing with the provisional.

"Collage is a layering of thoughts and ideas as well as of paper, fabric, glue, and paint." (Gerald Brommer, 1994).

Prague's Cathedral

2006-05-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

In Prague we went inside a small gallery that had mostly comercial art but I was able to find this etching of Prague's Cathedral by Alexandrol a Czech artist. I was attracted to this image because the Cathedral is embedded in a round shape containing its roots. I was attracted the roundness of this drawing and a the isolation of the landscape.

Do like this image?

Making Coins

2006-05-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we took a train to Kutna Hora that is a city connected with the mining of silver ore and minting coins. They had great silver deposits and in the 13th century Kutna Hora was producing one third of total European silver production. Thanks to silver mines, Kutna Hora gained excessive wealth and became the second most important city in the Kingdom of Bohemia, after Prague. In this city there are many medieval and Barroque buildings. We visited the Cathedral of St. Barbara, one of the best examples of Gothic architecture. In its walls I saw some mural paintings depicting some people making coins. In the Cathedral grounds there was some sort of celebration and different stalls and food. There I took these photos of a man dressed in medieval costume minting coins as in the old days. Here I could also see the object/hand relationship. Each coin was made individually in this way.

Hands

2006-05-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

I found lots of images of hands in Prague. Here are some of the images. The first one is an image of a monument and it has a relief of a man and a dog and for some reason there was a queu of people trying to touch the dog. As you can see the rest ot the sculpture is black/greyish but the area where people rubb/touch the dog is shiny. Touching the dog is important or brings luck...

The next image that you often see is that of a beggar kneeling down, facing the ground and with his palms facing the public....Even in the winter they continue kneeling down - no matter how cold the ground is. When you put a coin in his palms he starts moving as to thank you, but he never sees you. The hand and touch is important - hand/object relationship again.

Next it is an image of a blessing hand and then two hands showing it is a workshop.

Prague is also famous for making puppets. The level of craftsmanship is high. The puppet is a very tactile object and the hand/object relationship is central in the creation of puppets as well as in the handling of them and in the performance of a puppet and puppeteer.

Shirt

2006-05-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

A lonely pink blouse in a window in a building in Prague.

Prague

2006-05-14T03:39:00.000-07:00

These are other images of Prague. I found in the surfaces of the walls, buildings and objects great richness of textures, colours and images. I also found that the Czechs love collages. They have a great afinity with this medium. I went inside a bookshop looking for a book on/of Adriena Simotova. They didn't have any but I was introduced to Pribehy Jiriho Kolare or Jiri Kolare. Jiri Kolare is one of the most influential and well-known Czech artists of our times and he is famous for his collages and novel art techniques. I bought a book of his work and I have been amazed at the richness and inventiveness of his collage techniques. Another artist I came across is Jan Steklik who also includes some collage in his compositions but in all his work is about burning, making holes, stitching, etc...incorporating both erasure and addition in his works. I went inside some comercial galleries and encounter some collages as well. While walking along Charles bridge I saw the usual comercial colourful watercolour paintings of various famous sights...but in two markets I saw some people selling some very good collages made by unknown artists. They were not cheap (for a market) and I found it very odd to find good work amongst souvenirs.

On the last day of my visit, in fact last 30 minutes I spent in Prague, I spent them in Dum U Kamenneho zvonu or "House of the Stone Bell" where I saw a wonderful exhibition: "In the Shackles of Laughter" - Caricature and Czech art 1900-1950 representing works by: F. Bidlo, V.H> Brunner, F. Gellner, A. Hoffmeister, Z. Kratochvil, F. Kupta, J. Lada, O. Mrkvicka, F. Muzika, A. Pelc, A. Prochazha, H. Schwaiger, F. Tichy and J. Vachal. Excellent works and a lot of collage and photomontage. I particularly enjoyed seeing some works by A. Hoffmeister. Stewart Geddes had just given us, the week before, an introduction to collage and amongst the works seen was one by Hoffmeister - the one of a dictator with a big fish head - well, I saw the original one there!!!!

In the shop of this gallery/museum I was able to get two recent books of Adriena Simotova who is another great Czech artist and whose work has inspired me.

Another aspect of Prague was its window displays. The way some shops display to the public the items they are selling and the way they write on the display windows. The last photograph is an example of various bottles of wine, beer and alcoholic beverages they were selling.

Images of Prague

2006-05-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

These are some digital photos I took while visiting Prague. I experienced my trip as a derive. I reacted as I found situations, objects and places. Trying to see, smell and feel/touch this new place. While the others (a chemical engineer, a biomedical engineer and a bio-chemist) were doing the usual touristic sightseeing and taking pictures of sights and people; I was trying to get the feeling of the place and of the people. When arriving to buildings such as churches or palaces, I tried to see the walls, touch the surfaces, see the ceilings, the holes in the walls, feel the temperature of the places, etc... I took various photos of walls that I will be using in another project. After awhile my companions started making fun of the pictures I was taking. They will say: "Marcela, here's another wall with holes!"

These are some images I took of walls, posters, graffitti and adds on walls and other surfaces. Some of them are collages. The surfaces are really interesting and rich in textures and colour. They have been made by the passing of time, the weather and people peeling them off and leaving graffitti marks. Here I can also relate to the hand/object relationship. The act of peeling and leaving layers. The act of taking away and leaving. The act of erasing certain areas and leaving others.

Off to Prague

2006-05-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone...I'm not going to be posting in the next few days because I'm off to Prague from Friday and coming back home on Tuesday ... Well, I'm going with, guess who - my father!!!

I might find more discarded shirts....

My Father's Shirt

2006-05-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

After producing 2-d drawings I crumpled up my father's shirt and placed it alongside my other round drawings/sketches...
My father has been visiting me...He is the typical traditional Catholic Mexican man who needs a lot of attention from his daughter...so...you can imagine how tired I got...
After giving me a lot of laundry to do for him, amongst other duties...he decided to discard one of his shirts...I kept it thinking I could use it for rags or cleaning brushes...

While getting ready for Claudia's masterclass I remembered it and put it in my bag with my other round objects/sketches...I put all of them on the wall and on a table to start drawing them in 2-d format...the shirt followed and almost naturally I placed it crumpling it in a ball alongside the others...(remember Martin Creed's crumpled paper ball?)...

While working on the 2-d drawings I also drew my father's shirt that became one of the other sketches...

When we had to decide what to displayed I thought of the shirt...Claudia also thought that the image and story/narrative behind it was very powerful.

I placed it on its own and worked. I placed it inside a tiny box - meaning that I am going to put that experience inside a small box and away to continue living... I also placed a smaller round black object hanging from the ceiling and directly on top of the shirt. After Caroline my classmate, mentioned that for her it, the small object that was hanging, was disturbing or menacing...I realised that it represented someone else...

By re-experiencing the drawings - as Leigh's tutor, Tim Staples, used to tell her - a new piece emerged connecting with inner ideas or feelings.

Thanks Leigh!

From 3-D to 2-D

2006-05-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Here are more drawings made from three dimensional drawings or sketches.

Leigh, my mentor asked me: "When you engaged in the 3-d drawings did you draw what you had made? Although at first thought that may seem like defeating the object but I think it could, in effect continue a cycle. Those drawings, apart from giving the artist a further physical experience, could possibly be used in further manipulations." Leigh Maddox, April 2006.

I have now come back to 2-d and while producing further drawing my mind made other connections that also took me yet again to three dimensional representation of ideas.

From 3-D to 2-D

2006-05-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

My mentor is Leigh Maddox. Following her advice I decided to make two dimensional drawings from the three dimensional drawings/round sketches I had made. I hung them on the wall I proceeded to draw them randomly...

By continuing this cycle...perhaps the drawings are not extraordinary but they were necessary for my reflection and the next stage or leap - my father's shirt.

Jin and Marcela's Line Drawing

2006-05-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

"An active line on a walk, moving freely, without a goal. A walk for a walk's sake" Paul Klee in "The Pedagogical Sketchbook" 1925.

Jin and I joined forces to produce this walking line drawing during Claudia's masterclass. We both started independently and we soon found that our lines joined and had the impulse of making our line jump out of the window. Jin went downstairs and continued by joining the two lines and crossing the bridge outside Kingston University. She jumped the fence and tried to draw outside, crossing the path...after a while and interrupting pedestrians and cyclists we decided to keep it inside the University and flying over the river.

I would like to quote Walter Benjamin: "The graphic line is defined in contrast to area, which is both visual and metaphysical. The graphic line marks out the area and so defines it by attaching itself to it as its background...The graphic line can only exist against this background,so that a drawing that completely covered its background would cease to be a drawing. The graphic line congers an identity on its background...The drawing exists at another level within the human psyche, it is a locus for signs, by which we map the physical world, but it is itself the pre-eminent sign of being. Drawing is not a window on the world, but a device for understanding our place within the universe." (W.B., Painting, or Signs and Marks, 1917).

Claudia's Sarnthein's masterclass - Surfacing/Mapping

2006-05-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

Claudia Sarnthein surfacing/mapping drawing masterclass focused on surface areas and maps in two and three dimensions. We reflected on the relationship between touching and seeing in exploring through the close-up as well as the bird's eye view. Through many of the exercises we were able to make the connection between touch and sight. I felt that I was able to think on my drawing and reflect on the two dimensional and the three dimensional aspects of my drawing. She showed us various examples of a number of artists working in a variety of mediums and all of them conveying their inner feelings through different strategies.

Two artists that caught my attention and imagination were Doris Salcedo and Guiseppe Penone. In Doris Dalcedo, the relationship between objects and space is predominant. The way she represents inside and outside both in the medium and her message. I liked the heaviness conveyed in a lot of her works...this idea will come in handy later on in another project I have. The use of other materials such as: hair and heavy pieces of furniture and a lot of embedded plaster. I might take the idea of heavy furniture to display my work...

Guiseppe Penone was another artist that we discussed. His drawings made out of tree rubbings are amazing and I particularly like the idea of the artist being near nature, receptive to nature and using it to convey ideas. In him is obvious the relationship of object/hand/nature. Hands are an important motif in his work. He uses different materials and ways to create his drawings.

Claudia's masterclass also helped us to think about our audience, what people feel when they see our work, to consider and listen attentively to our audience, and then question ourselves in relation to their feedback. We had to be very attentive to the way we display our work. The lines or objects around it that are distracting or taking attention away from our work. Is it necessary to display a lot? or Is less or being more minimal better?

2006-05-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

In making the round paper drawings/sketches I have refered back to Martin Creed's "Work No. 88 - A sheet of paper crumpled into a ball" made in 1995. Link: www.martincreed.com "His self-effacing work reflects an anxiety to communicate between the thing you do and the world" (video "Martin Creed" the Eye, Illuminations, 2001).

As you will later see in a video that I have recently recorded of the making of these drawings, I started it by crumpling up a piece of A4 paper into a ball and then refering to the round sketches and drawing on the wall. There is another drawing on the opposite wall I made while being blindfolded and after touching one of the round sketches that was hanging next to me.

Ash drawing - the drawing on the floor is made with ashes, my hands and a stick. In the center I have placed the small crumpled ball. Perhaps I am trying to link old ways of drawing (the caveman) with new technology and thought - Martin Creed.

To make the animation of the hands a Microsoft Gif Animation programme was used. They are 5 digital photos of hands put together at a certain speed to create the illusion of the making of the A4 paper crumpled into a ball.

3D, 2D and blindfolded

2006-05-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

In these series of drawings I particularly like the third one that was made while I was blindfolded. After touching the round black one next to it I proceeded to draw on the paper on the wall with both hands...when I started I used both hands and made circular inward movements...in the beginning the drawing looks like a representation of the brain - the two sides of the brain seen from the top...as it develops it changes and the lines become thicker and the direction of the movements of my arms and hands change as well. It is a drawing using my sense of touch but my memory as well. There is rhythm while I was drawing and it is interesting the sounds produced by the charcoal rubbing against the paper surface...all this time I was standing and kneeling down.

Hand-Object relationship

2006-05-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

The relation between the tactile and the visual is considered in these last objects/drawings. I have created a series of small round objects made as tactile sketches and drawn again on the surface. I have tried to use different kinds of papers, line and cord. I have hung them from the ceiling and their shadows form a variety of shapes and lines on the wall.

In making these round paper drawings I have refered to Martin Creed's "Work No.88 - A sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball" made in 1995. Link: www.martincreed.com "His self-effacing work reflects an anxiety to communicate between the thing you do and the world" from the video "Martin Creed", The Eye, Illuminations, 2001.

Bill Prosser's masterclass

2006-04-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Drawing in - Drawing out was the title of Bill Prosser's masterclass that took place from 1st to 3rd of April 2006. Bill said: " Drawing is primal. Children draw before they speak. Even in the 21st Century drawn images from prehistoric times continue to be discovered. Drawing is communication, as these examples testify, even when what is being communicated is still under development. Drawing is its etymology; dragging or tracing. Taken as a verb, it has active associations such as drawing in and drawing out - respiring, one one draws of breath - that connects the internal and the external, self and world. As a noun it it associated with certain kinds of marks; simple tools that leave direct traces."

These three days led by Bill Prosser explored the relationship between inner and outer, materiality of drawing, the intention as he pointed out was to breathe the vivifying richness and banality of ordinary life.

We worked drawing from life and we principally had two approaches to our drawings: objective and subjective. After working using both approaches we had to combine both the "external" and "internal" responses into an integrated whole, in which neither was dominant, but reciprocally dependent on the other. We had short and longer poses and at the beginning we concentrated in observational drawing, trying to measure the model accurately. As time went on we were given a variety of exercises to be able to draw using our emotions. We were given words that triggered different responses or emotions, trying to associate them with other words, events or emotions. Sarah, our model, put on a mime mask and gave us exraordinary poses that allowed us to complete this exercise successfully. After the break we had another exercise. Bill projected some slides of his work onto the model's body. She was leaning against the wall. The lights were turned off. These allowed us, once again, to respond to the images from the poses the model was giving us and the projected drawings as well as from the shadows...We had to choose a section of what we were seeing and trying to combine both the external and internal responses in us. A lot of interesting things happened during this session. It was so successful that Bill decided to repeat this exercise the following day. On the last day we were given short and long poses. We were asked to fold the paper in different ways, and various times. Once the paper was folded we had to draw in every section and see what happened at the end as a whole.

We had to respond and use our imagination when given the model posing with a series of small plastic dinosaurs!!! We could enlarge the dinosaurs, change scale and dimensions, play with ideas, use the model as the landscape, combine the two shapes, etc...Subjectivity had to come into this exercise, the reverse of objectivity.

We used a variety of drawing materials such as: charcoal (various sizes and densities) , ink, graphite pencils, scissors, scalpel, graphite sticks, charcoal pencils, pens (pentel type, dip pens, quills, sharpened sticks), brushes, and plenty of paper (A2/A1) white cartridge/neutral toned/black sugar paper and our sketchbooks.

I think some aspects of this masterclass can be linked with my project. The main ideas of drawing being primal and communication. The main approaches taken when drawing: objectivity and subjectivity. The rhythm of subjectivity and objectivity that sometimes play an important part in work produced and how to integrate both approaches if required. The caveman must have been objective at times when he was trying to represent images of animals for instance, as close to reality as possible and sometimes he was only trying to represent his feelings, his state of mind and spirit; and when in trance how he represented his state. In more efimeral drawings, they must have represented their state of being, their instincts, the way they were feeling when making marks on the grounds or making patterns with materials.

These are some of the drawings produced during the masterclass. I tried to be objective and subjective and combining both approaches. A variety of effects and marks were used as well as a diversity of materials. I was able to incorporate some layering in some of the drawings.

In general there was a very strong creative energy generated by the model, Bill and all of us. It was as if we were all united as a whole body. Everybody could sense it and even the model remarked how strong this energy was. This was not premeditated - it just happened - again something primal or instinctive. It was as if there was a creative spirit in the group. The group gelled and we were able to accomplish the given tasks as a group.

Torn edges, layering and overlapping

2006-04-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

These are some drawings using layering, tearing edges of paper, overlapping paper and marks:

Anna Piaggi's Cape

2006-04-10T01:41:00.000-07:00

Recently at the Exhibition of Anna Piaggi's "Fashion-ology" at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London I could see this wonderful cape designed by Angela and Giovanni Grimoldi over the dress J-C de Castellbajac created for the launch of her book Fashion Algebra in 1998.

I have been inspired by the way they are using layers, superimposing them and the way they are manipulating the materials. I tried to think of different words to convey ways of manipulating paper such as: layers, concertinas, overlapping, crumpling, folding, rolling up, scrunching, cuts, side edge, upper edge, shapes, scoring, bending, juxtaposing, strips, tubes, curly strips, protrusions, curving, tubes shaped from curved and rolled papers, threading, surfaces that are bend, uneven lines, twist, parallel lines, pleating, formations, pleats squeeze together at one end, fanning, crispness of pleating, creases, reverse pleating, bending diagonally, etc...

Can you think of other words I can add to this list?

Lynda has added: binding, tracing, weaving, pleating, rubbing and erasing.

Three-dimentional sketches/exercises

2006-04-09T04:29:00.000-07:00

Before I thought of the exercise I gave the two groups, I made similar exercises creating three-dimentional small drawings or sketches. I have enjoyed creating these small examples. By manipulating different kinds of paper and combining it with other materials and charcoal markings interesting work was produced. When I showed these three-dimentional sketches to my classmates and Stewart during my SIP presentation (self-initiated project) on 29th of March, they liked the feel of them and looking at them. Stewart pointed out the relationship between hand and object/sketch/material same relationship that exists between hand and marking instrument and paper in two-dimentional drawings. They were able to touch them and it was really interesting how they all went for the round ones, the ones they could hold in their hands not the long ones. Perhaps in this way we can connect with the caveman who also used his tactile experience as part of his three-dimentional drawings. Feeling and touching must have been really important for them as it is for us. Perhaps by making these three-dimentional drawing the audience is invited to see as well as to touch them - food for thought! Should drawing be a visual as well as a tactile experience?

Exercise with Masters classmates & Stewart

2006-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

These three-dimentional sculptural drawings were made on 29th of March 2006 by some of my classmates doing the Masters Drawing as Process and our tutor Stewart Geddes. They were given the same instructions as the previous group and this is the way they decided to approach the exercise. Do you think they are similar or are they different? The first group (who did the previous exercise on March 24th) is formed by amateur artists, some artists with a lot of experience and people suffering from mental disabilities. I found the exercises produced by both groups very interesting. I also found out that both groups enjoyed the challenge and were deeply inmerse in the exercise. In both cases the exercise was followed by a short discussion on the pieces produced. This second group was shown the work produced by the first group after they have produced their own pieces. They were surprised by the variety of approaches in both groups of people. They enjoyed being able to manipulate the materials and producing drawings that were two and three dimentional. We also incorporated subjectivity - trying to express their emotions through manipulating paper and using marks of some kind.
Do you think this exercise was successful?
In my opinion it was successful and it was important to keep it short. They had to produce and think quickly or let their instinct take over. Perhaps the second group was more conscious of producing something interesting...They knew there was another group of people who had produced similar three-dimentional drawings. In both cases the groups trusted me and followed my instructions. They didn't complained or challenged my objectives/ideas. I am very grateful to both groups who were able to trust me by doing the exercise willingly and enjoying it.

Playing With The Provisional

2006-03-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

Playing with the Provisional

Following Anthony Caro's ideas of building/sketching and hsi examples of paper sculptures, I started my own three-dimensional sketches. It has been a very interesting way of expressing ideas using a three-dimensional drawing and a variety of materials. I feel as Deanna Petherbridge said in her lecture that I am playing with the Provisional. I wanted to test this idea further but with other people.

Last Friday 24th of March 2006, I decided to give my students an exercise and see what the results would be. I handed a piece of cartridge paper and some charcoal to each of them and told them to manipulate it by folding it, scrunching it , etc... The purpose was to show their feelings through manipulating the paper. Were they feeling stressed, happy, angry, frustrated, anxious, content, etc... Then I asked them to make a mark or lines inside the piece of paper also expressing their feelings. After this they had to wrap it up or fold it if they wanted by using some string or wire and make some more marks outside or on the other side of the paper. The exercise was no longer than 10 minutes long. They didn't have time to think about it too much. They enjoyed the exercise and expressed their feelings through this sculptural-drawing exercise. The results were very interesting an these are some of the photos:

Cultural Context Of Drawing

2006-02-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Playing with the Provisional

My proposal: Looking at drawing in relation to sculpture, two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

According to some scholars drawing is at least 20,000 years old and is a much older and more basic human activity than writing. It is unlikely that a Neolithic artistic genius just produced these wonderful cave drawings in a first attempt. There must have been many more other attempts to make marks and similar drawings many years before the final cave drawings were made.

An Acheulian hand axe discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Kenya is over a million and a half years old.

"All art and technology began when early man chipped an oval stone flint with symmetrical precision to produce a point and extremely sharp edges. In a world where tools might have been the most important things made, their qualities were sometimes brought to perfection far beyond the needs of practicality. Craft, symmetry and elegance speak of pride in creation, pleasure in contemplation, prestige in possession. There are three factors which set this particular artifact apart from other prehistoric tools. Firstly, it does not reflect the natural shapes of stones nor is it the result of natural fractures. There is nothing accidental about the design. Secondly, the design seems to be the result of a shared aesthetic as these tools are found all over Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. A vast distance at the time. Thirdly, they were made with a painstaking refinement which far exceeds practical requirements. They are the first real evidence of style." (Alan Fletcher, 2000, The Art of Looking Sideways, p 20).

This drawing comes from the walls of caves at Lascaux in France. Earlier examples must have varnished due to weather conditions and deterioration of the rock. Prehistoric visual expression could have begun with attempts using other materials and surfaces. There is evidence that 100,000 years ago that Homo sapiens had already evolved its creativity. They used more advanced tools, carved markings on bone, and there are signs of the use of red ochre as decoration. They had a sophisticated toolkit of stone, bone, ivory and wood.

How did they acquire these personal drawing skills to express own ideas and communicate own perceptions?

In order to survive they had to be inventive and develop creativity and imagination. They also chose to take some time from their everyday surviving routine to practice other skills such as making their weapons, tools and jewelry. Probably while looking at the fire they came up with different ideas such as using the ashes (perhaps by accident); they started making marks with their fingers or with the end of a stick full of charcoal they could have made marks and lines on the ground with.

They could have also practiced making lines and marks on the sand with a stick. These men and women decorated their bodies with various marks and lines using pigments and charcoal. While gathering fruit and seeds they might have come with the idea of arranging them in piles, lines, forming patterns. They decorated their vessels and pots with lines and patterns. They must have used mud to draw and decorate, too.

marks made on the ground with a stick:

Drawings made with sticks and seeds

"These people lived in extreme circumstances and only the fittest survive and, fitness was cleverness. The most creative people lived. They had the ability to think of what might happen in the future, and to work out a way of dealing with it. They developed their imagination. They had a sense of ritual and spiritual belief." (John Lynch & Louise Barrett, Walking with Cavemen, 2003).

There are some engravings and carvings found at Klasies River in South Africa made from an early Homo Sapiens site from 100,000 years ago, a bone marked with criss-cross lines suggest an expression of symbolic thought. Beads and pierced shells also date from a similar time. In some caves they have also found thay they are filled with other symbols, such as patterns of grids and squares and regular dots.

Drawings made with pepper using a stick

I made a lot of drawings using pepper...I felt like sneezing all the time but I thought that I wanted to experience something earthy and organic. I have recorded some of these drawings with my digital camera. Others were just erased. Homo Sapiens (some 50,000 years ago) must have made many drawings using ashes, charcoal, different kinds of powdery materials and in different earthy colours. Of course there is nothing left of these drawings. They were made in a moment and disappeared right away. He was able to move on leaving no mark of his thoughts and drawing activity

silhouetted hand from 20,000BC, in Peche Merle in Southern France. It was created by blowing a sooty pigment over the hand pressed against the cave wall. This picture comes from "Ancient Art and Architecture Collection Ltd".

This simple image is seen in many caves - the outline of a human hand. Was it a symbol for something or was this person only saying "Here I am. This is me!" In some caves on the floor there are still preserved in the petrified mud the footprints of children and adults who were there producing these markings.

"They were people who had minds as great as our own, but whose thoughts were simply in another time" (John Lynch & Louise Barrett, Walking with Cavemen, 2003).

Sand drawings using hands, fingers and a stick:

Drawing with sand and a stick was very liberating. The caveman must have made lots of drawings with sand, on sand, markings on sand with a stick, piles of sand, sand and water, sand and soil, sand and ash, sand and leaves, sand and grass, ticks on sand...He must have found lots of combinations and played with it during recreational time and in this way he must have been able to put part of his thinking or creative process on a surface either three-dimensionally or two -dimensionally.

I decided to continue drawing on sand but this time I glued the sand onto the surface of the paper with PVA glue. Before it dried I made some markings/drawings with sticks and sharp tools. This is an example:

The early man was not able to use paper - it had not been invented. Paper was first made by Ts"ai Lun, an official at the Chinese court of the Emperor Ho Ti in the 2nd century AD. This man thought of a way of breaking down plants and rags into single fibers. These fibers were pounded to a pulp and collected on a fabric-covered frame, where they were matted and dried as paper. This procedure of hand-made paper is still pretty much the same. This knowledge spread to Japan, the Middles East and India, reaching Europe via Spain in the 10th century AD.

So as you can see paper as a technology is still very recent. Drawings were made on different surfaces and with different tools for a long time before paper was invented therefore it is important to think about the various ways man has drawn since he came up with the idea. There are places in the world nowadays where paper is not as common or available. People still draw but using different materials and surfaces.

I gathered some sticks and pistachio shells and made some linear patterns as well as using some seeds. The result was interesting. I tried to imagine the early caveman gathering their seeds, stones, leaves, sticks and making patterns, rearranging them and possibly drawings.

This week we were eating some sausages. I decided to play with them by rearranging them. These are some examples of what happened. We ate them later. The early man must have also played with his food as some animals do before they eat it. This usually happens when they have plenty and have satisfied their basic hunger.

Picasso at La Galloise. Photograph by Robert Doisneau, 1951. (Rapho/Doisneau, Paris)

Here is Picasso playing with some loaves of bread. He has rearranged them as if they were his fingers. If you observe children while they are eating you will see that they like to play with the food. They rearrange it, they make faces, they pretend that what they are eating is something else.

"The mind of the child is a fertile playground of associations and images without regard of logic and language. This playful element is essential to creativity" (James Huges, Altered States, 1999)

Perhaps we should play more and develop our creative capacity further! What do you think?

Photograph by Gjon Mili, 1949 (Agence Scala, Florence).

In this photo we can see Picasso making use of new technology but at the same time having fun, playing with a new element that opened up more possibilities. He took drawing to another dimension and it is only recorded in this photograph. It was a moment in time. He must have practiced and made many other drawings before this photograph was taken.

Playful Creativity: " Genius is simply childhood, rediscovered by an act of will." Charles Baudelaire.

"There is always an element of play in creative living. When this playful element disappears, joy goes with it, and so does any sense of being able to innovate." Donald Winnicott.

On Monday 13th of March I attended an Interactive Whiteboard training workshop. I learned to use it and I had the chance to play with it for some time.

This specific Whiteboard Software came out in 2004. It is ACTIVpx software. A computer, a projector, a big screen on the wall and a pen that needs to be calibrated (ready and active to use on the screen) are needed. This is new technology used in classrooms. New programmes to be used in the interactive whiteboard have now appeared in the market that contain more applications in the toolbox.

The ACTIVpx contains a toolbox and in this programme a flipchart and drawing tools. I was able to draw on the big screen using different pen thickness and colours. I was able to erase, highlight, and altered drawings. I could also hide and reveal contents. I could move around my drawings, change their size and rotate them. This new software offers endless possibilities providing you have the technology and imagination! If I compare this programme to the Digital Drawings we made with Adobe Photoshop and Painter Corel it is not as versatile but new programmes are appearing in the market that will allow us to be more daring and creative.

With this technology we are no longer using paper and pencil and we are still drawing.

Do we have any of this at Kingston University? In the art and design department? I think Steward would like to be able to have an interactive whiteboard to convey his ideas and to be able to draw while delivering his lessons. For bigger classrooms the screen is big enough for everyone to see.

How can we use this technology to draw artistically? in another context outside the classroom/office environments?

Here are some photographs of the drawings I made in an interactive whiteboard:

These are some digital drawings made with Painter Corel and Adobe Photoshop programmes. The first one was made "free hand" using the mouse and selecting colours and different line marks and line thickness. The second one was done by scanning a drawing in black and white first and then altering the image using Adobe Photoshop. Both results are interesting.

This drawing was made by using Painter Corel Programme. I liked being able to use a variety of tools allowing me to create a number of effects and vary colours.

This drawing was made from a digital drawing that had been altered with Adobe Photoshop first. A small section was taken and a new drawing was created. This drawing is made on paper using charcoal, pastel and graffite. It is called "From Digital to Drawing". I think that I prefer to create an image digitally and then do a drawing by returning to charcoal, graffite and paper basing it in the image created digitally.

Anthony Caro's Sculptures

Emma Dipper - 1977 - Steel rusted and painted grey and Emma Dance - 1977-78 - Steel rusted, painted and blacked. These sculptures are considered "drawing in space" and are a far cry from Caro's linear sculptures of the 1960's (Terry Fenton, Anthony Caro, 1986). In April 2005 I attended the exhibition "Anthony Caro" at the Tate Britain. I was taken by his sculptures Emma Dipper that belong to a series he made at Emma Lake in Saskatchewan in Canada in 1977. These series of scuptures are entirely linear and open, like line-drawings in air. His motive: "I was interested in the possibility of feeling my way into sculptural space from within, instead of without".

Lectures by Deanna Petherbridge - National Gallery- 2006

Drawing towards Enquiry - Enquiry towards Drawing

On February 22nd 2006 I attended Deanna Petherbridge lecture on "Playing with the Provisional - Sketching in Art & Design Practice". I was really inspired by her expertise and clarity of thought. What caught my attention in specific was her reflection on Anthony Caro's practice and sculptures. She said that when Caro was teaching at St. Martins no one was allowed to use pencil and paper or sketch in this traditional way. They were provided with all sorts of materials and they have to develop their ideas using and manipulating materials and shapes. Deanna said "He was playing with the provisional. Drawing was incorporated in the act. He would literally play and was doing a drawing through this pure activity".(Deanna Petrerbridge, 2006). They were doing sketches of a sculpture. Later they will be transferred into steel.

She showed us: Sir Anthony Caro Petticoats 1971/1976 Steel, painted brown 160 x 195.5 x 89cm and Paper Sculpture no.98 1981 Pencil, chalk, acrylic, handmade paper, Tycore on cardboard tubes filled with leadshot 76.2 x 38.1 x 40.6cm (similar to these paper sculptures examples). In this last sculpture she pointed out that this was precisely a sketch of a sculpture. Pencil and chalk had been incorporated. Her thoughts and insight started a series of ideas in me that I have tried to develop and follow through. I do believe that we can sketch and draw in a three-dimensional way and that Caro and his students were sketching and drawing their ideas for sculptures using a variety of materials because they have decided earlier on, on not using paper and pencil to represent their ideas. This lead to a series of very interesting experiments and opened up possibilities and sculpture was able to move forward.

Paper Sculpture No. 105 Pencil, chalk, acrylic, 4 push pins, Tycore, handmade paper in wood box, Paper Sculpture No. 24 "As You Are" 1981, pencil, acrylic, handmade paper on Tycore; Paper sculpture No. 97 - 1981, pencil, acrylic, spray paint, handmade paper on Tycore; and Paper sculpture No. 4 "Big White" - 1981, pencil, chalk, acrylic, handmade paper on Tycore:

Self-initiated project 2006

2006-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Blog process completed at 21:45 on Monday 13th February 2006.